Strawberry Salad With Zesty Honey Mustard Dressing

This strawberry salad recipe features an eclectic mix of ingredients, like strawberries, mandarin oranges, pistachios, cranberries, and crumbled feta. I pair it with a honey mustard dressing, which is bursting with zesty citrus flavor to perfectly complement this scrumptious salad.

This strawberry spinach salad recipe makes me smile. It’s filled with flavor, texture, and refreshing ingredients. You’ve got fresh strawberries, fresh mandarin orange, fresh avocado, and fresh greens, which we pair with dried cranberries, pistachios, and crumbled feta. Yeah, when I said the ingredients were eclectic, I wasn’t kidding. But trust me, they work so well together. One bite and you’ll know exactly what I mean!

Then we have the strawberry salad dressing. While honey and Dijon mustard are the stars of the show, there’s also a lot of citrus flavor from lemon zest, lemon juice, mandarin orange juice, and mandarin orange zest. Add some olive oil and salt to balance out the zestiness and you have yourself such a refreshing dressing. 

This is such a quick and easy strawberry salad to make. All you have to do is toss the salad ingredients together, quickly blend the dressing ingredients together (which takes about 15 seconds), and combine the two. Your salad will be ready in about 10 minutes. I’ve included serving suggestions below, as well as substitutions and variations to make this recipe work for you and with what you have on hand.

Perfect for a summer barbecue, potluck, or picnic, I hope you enjoy this strawberry spinach salad recipe.

Recipe Ingredients

Salad

• Mixed spring green lettuce or fresh spinach
• Fresh strawberries
• Mandarin oranges
• Dried cranberries
• Pistachios (or nuts of your choice)
• Crumbled feta cheese (or whichever cheese you like)
• Sliced avocado (optional)

Dressing

• Vegetable oil (I use olive oil)
• Mandarin orange zest
• Juice from oranges
• Lemon zest
• Fresh lemon juice
• Honey
• Dijon mustard
• Salt

How to Make Strawberry Salad With Honey Mustard Dressing

In a large bowl, combine the lettuce…

Sliced strawberries…

Orange sections…

Avocado slices (if using)…

Dried cranberries…

Pistachios…

And the crumbled feta.

Toss these ingredients together.

If you like, save some to top it off at the end if you are serving it to guests.

Now, we make the salad dressing. In a food processor or blender, we’re going to add the orange juice…

Mandarin orange zest…

Lemon zest…

Lemon juice…

Honey…

Dijon mustard…

And salt.

Blend. 

Then add in the oil while pulsing in the processor or blender until well combined.

This should only take 10-15 seconds or so.

Add the dressing to the tossed salad ingredients, but you may not need it all. 

And toss again.

Before serving, add more dressing and scatter strawberry slices, orange slices, and avocado on top and sprinkle a bit more feta and nuts if desired to make a beautiful salad to serve.

That certainly looks like a beautiful bowl of strawberry salad to me.

Storage

Store leftover salad covered in plastic wrap or in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. But just know it will get soggy because of the dressing, so if you can, store them separately and then combine them just before serving.

Recipe Notes

Here are some substitutions and variations to make this easy summer strawberry salad recipe work for you:

• Substitute the chopped pistachios for another nut, like candied pecans, walnuts, or sliced almonds.
• Use goat cheese or blue cheese instead of feta cheese.
• Substitute the Dijon mustard for wholegrain mustard.
• Substitute the honey for maple syrup.
• Add a teaspoon of poppy seeds to the dressing to make a poppy seed dressing (a popular addition to a strawberry salad).
• As mentioned, I use olive oil in the salad dressing.
• Want to add more fruit? Opt for about a cup of chopped Granny Smith apples, blueberries, or kiwi.
• On the other hand, want to add more vegetables? Add 1 cup of alfalfa sprouts, a thinly sliced red onion, or a cup of chopped cucumber.
• Substitute the lemon juice for apple cider vinegar to make a honey mustard vinaigrette. 

Recipe FAQs

How do you serve a strawberry salad?

This strawberry salad pairs well with meat like grilled chicken, shrimp, or salmon. Add some crusty bread or quinoa, pasta, or farro and you have a complete main dish.

Check out these other refreshing summer salads:

Fresh Summer Salads with Simply Dressed Dressing

Summer Corn Salad

Greek Cucumber Salad

Recipe for Caprese Salad with Chicken and Avocado

3 Bean Salad With Dressing

Low-Carb Broccoli Cauliflower Salad